Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.79 EPS

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of GOOG stock traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $162.42. 20,834,765 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,317,963. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $164.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Alphabet stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.7% of Brighton Jones LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.